Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the clarification on the information the Minister of State has provided. I agree that there does need to be an interdepartmental action on this. As far as the IFA is concerned, the solution or the pathway is there. The local authority would be the best placed body to remove the roadside ash trees in a safe manner. That is taking everybody's best interests into consideration. Yes, the IFA has criticised the Department of agriculture because it believes that it is an unfair amount of pressure to place on landowners, given that it was down to the Government's mismanagement. I appreciate that the problem is all across Europe but this again points to biosecurity measures. We recently saw the discovery of a bark beetle in Cratloe and I believe it has now extended to Cork as well. The landowners feel that they need support on this issue as it is not something they can undertake on their own.

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